Chapter 1: A Normal School Day, at Least for Me

I was sitting in my seat in the back of my classroom. It was nearing the end of the school year and we were having a pre-break free day before our Summer Break started; my final summer break before my senior year. While most of the students here were planning on going on to college and getting degrees after next year, I had plans to become an official counselor at Camp Half-blood along with Annabeth. We both had plans to go to college, but we had a different kind of college in mind. Let's just say that the one we were thinking of is a lot higher in the sky than most others.

A lot of the other students went outside to talk and hangout in the clean hallways of Goode High school, but I chose to stay seated and look over the pictures Annabeth had sent me yesterday. For the past two years, she has been attending her regular school in San Francisco, as well as getting to know the additions to her family a bit better than she ever had the chance to before. She also had filled me in on a strange new friend that she had made. Her friend's name was Ashley. They went to school together, but that wasn't the weirdest part. Annabeth recognized her as a demigod almost immediately. At first I didn't understand, but everything made more sense when she sent me an email explaining things.

Percy,

Things are going well in San Fran. My parents are treating me like normal and I've only been attacked 3 times since last week. It's a new record! I don't understand why you're not being attacked. I mean, you are the one who basically saved the entire Western World. I don't know why they just don't go after you; although it might have something to do with the fact that you're too powerful for them to beat. But anyways, as you know, I met this new girl Ashley. She goes to my school, transferred from Chicago, and it looks like we have a new camper. I haven't told her yet, I'm almost positive her dad knows who Ashley's mother is. So do I, but I don't want to make any assumptions. All you have to do is look at the pictures and I'm sure you'll know who I mean. I'll see you later seaweed brain. And I promise to come visit over break. I'll bring Ashley too; we've gotten pretty close.

-Annabeth Chase

I was looking at the pictures I had received from Hermes nearly at the same time I got the email and I saw a face I had never seen before, yet it seemed strikingly familiar. I knew exactly who this girl's mother was. She had gray eyes and light blonde hair like Annabeth's and she had the body of a great athlete. Her mother had to be Athena. As I was trying to find other similarities in both Annabeth and Ashley, like a few years ago, the picture was ripped from my hand. In front of me stood my teacher, Mrs. Marlo.

I knew from the beginning of the year that she was a monster, but since she didn't attack I didn't feel the need to destroy her. The way I had found out that she wasn't a teacher here was kind of disturbing, yet completely unsurprising.

I had caught her eating flies while walking by the classroom.

She didn't know I knew, and if she did, she wasn't letting on that she did. But seeing her right now, staring at me as if I had committed the greatest sin against her, I knew that she knew something about me. Although, it wasn't what I had been expecting…

"Mr. Jackson, did you steal Vince Fartel's backpack?" Yes, you heard her right, his last name was Fartel, and it fitted him perfectly. He was this year's school bully, the boy who wanted to ruin my life just because I got the last slice of pizza in the lunch line. He was a large kid with long brown hair and piercing, evil green eyes. He was on the football team, he was the most popular kid among the sophomores and he was failing every class except lunch.

"No, I didn't Mrs. Marlo." I replied trying to act like I didn't know what she was, which was hard considering she still had fly legs stick in between her brown teeth. Mrs. Marlo's human disguise had dirty blonde hair, a permanent sneer and beady eyes that always stared you down until you almost peed your pants. Well, that's what everyone else says at least. I'm always too busy with my hand in my pocket holding Riptide with a vice-grip just in case she decided to try anything.

She seemed to fall for my trick and crossed her arms. "Very well Mr. Jackson. But if I catch you with it-" She was cut off by Vince yelling: "Mrs. Marlo! I found it! He does have it!" He was pointing to under my desk where his ugly brown backpack was. I was surprised to see that it was there. I glanced at Vince and caught him smirking.

"He's the one who put it there! He set me up!" I yelled. We had most the people in the classroom's attention now and there were a few other students stopping outside in the hall to sneak a peek at the heated argument.

"Mr. Jackson, I'm afraid I don't believe that, and I'm sorry to say that you are going to have to be punished for it." I saw her smile and I knew what was coming next. I began to reach for my pocket, but she saw and everything exploded all at once.

Kind of ridiculous for all of this to start over a stupid backpack.

First thing I was conscious of was that Mrs. Marlo burst out of her human disguise and turned into a creature with a snake bottom and a human top. Her serpentine tail was a mottled green and her eyes glowered red. The second thing I was conscious of was that I had pulled out Riptide and uncapped it within two seconds of Mrs. Marlo's reveal. Lastly, when I swung, a kid had yelled: "He has a sword!" and everybody started screaming.

It didn't occur to me at first that they had seen my sword or even the monster. I was too focused on defeating what was trying to kill me.

"Perseus Jackson, you are no longer wanted in this world." The monster said.

"Well, I don't want you in this world either." I replied. She hissed and struck at me with lightning speed. I knew that I was about to be bitten. I closed my eyes and tensed up. But then the oddest thing happened, my eyes opened and I saw her coming at me, but my mind seemed to slow everything down. I ducked and she missed me by barely an inch.

"Whoa." Vince said from his hiding place under his desk. I would have laughed had I not been in a rather intense fight with something that could kill me faster than I could blink.

The monster looked surprised at my quick dodge, I was too. She tried again, and the same thing happened, except this time I swung my sword after and I managed to hit her right through her middle. She dissipated into yellow dust.

At first there was complete silence, and I just stood there, still on my toes and ready for another attack. Then there was the murmur or voices.

"That was awesome!" Vince yelled suddenly, followed by many other voices asking who I really was, if I was a superhero, if I worked in an agency. I couldn't answer any of these honestly, so I did the first thing I could think of. I ran to the principles' office. And in case you didn't know this, my stepdad was the principal*.

I knocked on the door after barreling past the secretary, who didn't even glance up. Must have been used to it, I guess…

"I'm on the phone, please don't come in." He yelled from inside.

"Dad, it's me." I said. I only called him dad when it was an emergency. He didn't say anything at first.

"Come in." I opened the door and he was hanging up the phone.

"Paul, my teacher finally showed herself." I said the second I came in.

I saw his eyes widen a fraction and he automatically went into his thinking pose, and then he sighed. "I think you should go home for the rest of the day."

I shook my head. "That's not why I came here." I said. "Everybody actually saw Riptide and the monster. I don't know how, but they saw their real forms."

*Thanks for letting me know. :)